AJ Muste Memorial Institute Grant Guidelines

If supporting social justice activism is important to you, please DONATE NOW to help us expand this important grantmaking program.

Our Social Justice Fund currently makes 10 to 15 grants annually of up to $2,000 each for grassroots activist projects in the US and around the world, giving priority to those with small budgets and little access to more mainstream funding sources. Please read these guidelines carefully and review our rosters of past grants on our website before applying to the Muste Institute for funding.

NOTE: Proposals for counter-recruitment projects should be submitted to the Counter Recruitment Fund.

CRITERIA:

The Muste Institute's Social Justice Fund considers proposals:

for new projects or campaigns, or efforts to expand existing work
for projects with expense budgets under $50,000
for projects which are local, regional, national or global in scope
from groups located anywhere in the world
from grassroots organizations with annual expenses of less than $500,000
from groups with limited or no access to more mainstream funding sources
from groups that may be unincorporated or incorporated*
from groups with or without 501(c)3 status or a fiscal sponsor*
from groups which have not received Social Justice Grants from us in at least two years**

The Social Justice Fund's priority is to support:

direct grassroots activism and organizing
groups with diverse, representative and democratic internal leadership structures
groups which have or can obtain sufficient economic and in-kind support from a diversity of sources to carry out their regular work, but need additional support for a particular project

Although we value the work, we do NOT consider grant proposals for the following:

general support of ongoing operations
individual efforts or scholarships
schools or universities
organizations with significant access to government, corporate or mainstream charitable funding
academic or research projects
art, theater, film or video projects which are not directly tied to activism or organizing
economic development projects
capital campaigns or expenses
direct social services
legal defense or litigation
lobbying or electoral campaigns
projects geared toward participants’ personal improvement or business success
conflict resolution or violence reduction projects, unless they directly promote activism

* The Muste Institute's Social Justice Fund only requires a fiscal sponsor if the group receiving the grant does not have its own bank account; we cannot issue checks to individuals. If you cannot receive a grant check made out to the name of your organization, you will need a fiscal sponsor.

** The Social Justice Fund will not accept a new request from a previously funded group for two years after a grant. If you submitted a proposal in September/October 2010 and received a grant in December 2010, you will be eligible to apply again in September/October 2012 for grants made in December 2011. If you are unsure about when you will qualify, check in with our office before applying.

WHEN TO APPLY

Next deadlines: Monday, April 8, 2013 (for grants decided in late June); Monday, July 1, 2013 (for grants decided in late September). Preliminary applications must be received via email no later than the deadline date.

HOW TO APPLY

Submit a preliminary application via email to info@ajmuste.org. Download our preliminary application form here to fill out on your computer.

Format: We accept preliminary applications in files with *.doc, *.docx, *.odt, *.rtf or *.pdf file extensions. The preliminary application must include all required information in ONE document of two pages or less, with NO additional documents or attachments. Please do not include graphics.

Subject header: Email your application using the subject header: "SJF [deadline month] 2013:" (without quotes) followed by your organization's name. This will help us identify your message as a preliminary application, rather than a general inquiry. (Important: applications sent without "SJF" in the subject header may end up not being considered.)

Timeline: If your preliminary application is accepted for consideration, we will inform you within approximately 3 weeks after the deadline. You will then have two weeks to submit a full proposal and additional materials via email. To see what the full proposal must include, click here: http://ajmuste.org/sjf-full.htm. Please do NOT submit a full proposal unless invited to do so.

If you receive a grant, you will have to provide a complete grant report and financial accounting, demonstrating that the grant money was used for the purpose intended. This report is due as soon as the money is spent or within six months, whichever comes first (until funds are spent, you must submit an updated report every six months).